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gs 550l black & decker 18 volt battery to get me home

  • Thread starter Thread starter whatparthurts
  • Start date Start date
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whatparthurts

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I was cruising the freeway, 1 am. the engine stops running, I exit and the battery is dead. I have to call and get help. I set up a 18 volt back up battery in my windjammer and wired it in. currently, i have to slide the battery into the holder to make the connection active. Electricity is not my area of expertise so I seek advise in this matter. will it work? i only want to use it in a pinch. anything is better than making tjhe dreaded call home at 1 am
 
If you have a points ignition anything from a 9v transistor radio battery will work, six volt dry cells, any car battery, up to probably any size truck battery you can carry. Disconnect the charging system so it doesn't screw up.

If you have electronic ignition don't screw around, you will fry expensive parts.
 
At 18 volts you're likely to fry things even with a points ignition.

Fix your electrical system and you wont be having to make any calls.
 
If you had a 14 volt battery, it would work a lot better.

Your voltage regulator is going to try to regulate your 18 volts down to about 14 by shorting it out, so it's not going to last very long. If you start with a 14 volt battery pack it would do better, but JT is right, ... fix/maintain your charging system, you won't need anything for a backup.

.
 
JTGS850GL said:
At 18 volts you're likely to fry things even with a points ignition.

Fix your electrical system and you wont be having to make any calls.
Click to expand...
I ordered the Polars rectifier for this bike, its an 86 with electronic ignition. I see 16 volts often and sometimes no charging at all. so I will keep the drill battery on standby. I wonder if anyone has tried this before and how well does it work. I am planning a trip to Kansas, 1000 miles and I want back up at least to get me to the next town if need be. All comments are greatly appreciated because I dont know much about electronics, I just know I hate to be stuck.
 
As you are installing the Polaris R/R, verify your stator outputs and your ground connections. You should not be seeing over about 14.4 volts, if you want the system to stay together.

Seeing 16 volts with your current system will boil the water out of the battery (if it's a stock wet-cell battery) and that is what will leave you stranded. Get a new AGM (that is a construction style, not a brand) battery, install it along with your new R/R, skip the drill battery.

.
 
If you have a bit of cash to play with and you would still like a backup after fixing your problems may I suggest a lithium Iron Phosphate motorcycle battery.
There are a few brands out there and the weight and size is unbeatable.
I cannot remember what the name of the thread was where it was discussed but a few members had tried different brands and were very pleased with the results.
One brand stood out if I remember correctly but I do not recall the brand.

To give you a idea of what I am referring too this is the brand I saw when first made aware of them.
Be sure to check out the weight and size specs on these.
Really cool.

http://www.batterytender.com/Batteries/
 
astonishing the lengths people will go to to avoid fixing what is actually wrong.
 
I'm quite tickled by the idea of a DeWalt charging point wired into the bike's electrical backbone, for emergency use only.
 
I'm keeping my black & decker battery on standby. BTW, I fixed the bike charging system by installing a R/R from a 79 gs 750. I'm ready for a road trip to give it the smoke test. The problem is not the lengths people will go to to avoid fixing what is actually wrong., but the crappy way the 86 gs 550 electrical was made in the first place. Why replace what doesn't work with expensive parts that won't work? The original R/R on the 86 gs550 was crap from day 1 according to the this site. and sure enough it failed on my bike too. The nice thing about this site is we get to share ideas and build true road worthy machines.

Here is my theory on the 18 volt drill battery. I leave my drill in the box for months and it holds a charge, Starting at 18 volts, in an emergency the volts will deminish as I go and hopefully it get me and my bike to a place with food, water and a bunk. I am trying to build a cross country bike and I will enjoy the trip even more if KNOW I have back up if the charging system fails.
 
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If I were wiring in an emergency battery pack point, I'd use a 14.4V one, just to be on the safe side. Your fully-charged 18V one will be higher than that, bear in mind, and any electronics on your bike won't like that too much.
 
I like that, I think I will switch to 14.4 volts, I just made a 800 mile round trip to LA. Nice to know I have back up. Makes the trip much more relaxing. Oh cruising between the cars on the freeway. Wow, that's crazy. I even got passed by another bike between the cars. My next add on will be a back up ignition for the 86 gs 550. I have the Cavalier coils and the HEI ignition thingy's, Just need a heat sink, wiring and a lot of luck. Has anyone done one of these HEI set ups?
 

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Any plans to get hard core extreme and tow a backup vehicle in case this bike breaks down?
 
I am backing up just the electrical.
 
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seanarthurmachado said:
Any plans to get hard core extreme and tow a backup vehicle in case this bike breaks down?
Click to expand...
Yea right. I am just trying to have a lil fun here. When I put a 30 year old bike on the road with known electrical problems. yea, I'm looking for good ideas here. GPZheiModBenchTest.jpg

Dyna S alternative - GM HEI on a former points ign. bike?

http://home.comcast.net/~loudgpz/GPZweb/Ignition/CBheiModCavCoil.html

If the igniter goes out on a 86 GS 550L 1000 miles from home and you have no back up unit. That could be a problem, but that is not how I roll.
 
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Interesting thread, but, if you have a good battery and a voltmeter on board you should not be stranded.. if you normally run with say 14v displayed all is fine.. If you see the charging volts dropping kill your headlamp ( if it's not dark of course), the charging system is likely still putting out enough juice to keep you running for hours, if it has died completely you will still be okay for quite awhile (hours)
I feel sooo much more comfortable seeing 14v (14.2 at battery) glowing in front of me..
Regards
Trevor
 
again, why not fix the "known electrical problems"? I mean, i guess it's an interesting experiment, but these bikes are very reliable once sorted. I just don't get it.
 
curious?

curious?

greg78gs750 said:
again, why not fix the "known electrical problems"? I mean, i guess it's an interesting experiment, but these bikes are very reliable once sorted. I just don't get it.
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OK, I'll forget about back up and ride it till it stops, leave it on the kickstand then take the bus home.
 
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qcktvr said:
Interesting thread, but, if you have a good battery and a voltmeter on board you should not be stranded.. if you normally run with say 14v displayed all is fine.. If you see the charging volts dropping kill your headlamp ( if it's not dark of course), the charging system is likely still putting out enough juice to keep you running for hours, if it has died completely you will still be okay for quite awhile (hours)
I feel sooo much more comfortable seeing 14v (14.2 at battery) glowing in front of me..
Regards
Trevor
Click to expand...

Just switched the lights to LED. Good voltage and lights. Took a while to change the light in the windjammer but I got it.
 
Unless you have switched to a model of R/R such as the Polaris 775 which cuts off power production as needed then your LED might be doing more harm than good.

My understanding is that there are 2 types of charging issues.... Undercharging which could be bad wiring, bad stator, ect or OVERCHARGING. if you receive the electrical load being used by switching to led then it might stress out the regulator/rectifier if you have an older shunt model that dumped electrical excess as heat, it may burn up.

I would personally suggest a voltometer on the bike to monitor, clean up all wires test all, and if you can afford the cash go to a 775 type rr.
 
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